A blue whale that washed ashore near Whanganui, New Zealand appears to have starved to death at sea, possibly from choking on netting.

Thought to be a pygmy blue whale, the animal was found dead on Waiinu beach, south of Waitotara, by locals but was already dead when it washed ashore. Not much is known about the number of blue whales in southern waters, the largest whale to wash ashore in New Zealand was a 27.4-metre female blue whale that stranded at Orewa, north of Auckland in 1925.

In an unrelated stranding, a three-metre pygmy sperm whale washed up a few kilometres away but was euthanised by Conservation Department staff after they were unable to refloat it.